"It's too high," Lancaster said. "But, we have to do this. It's about safety, bottom line."

Kufeld said he's also concerned about the violations since the compliance checks are conducted annually and are preceded with published information warning the businesses that checks will occur.

"We do the education piece first," Kufeld said. "We tell them, usually in a flyer, that in the next four months we will be coming around to check on them."

Kufeld said checks generally occur in the spring, summer and late summer/early fall. This year, the checks came on July 25 and Aug. 21. Another check in the near future is likely, he added.

The reason for the third check is to visit as many businesses in a year as possible.

" We don't always get around to each (business) every year but we try," the police chief said.

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What puzzles Kufeld the most, he said, is that businesses give lots of explanations for what precautions they take. Yet, the violations occur anyway.

"Businesses can refuse to serve to anyone," Kufeld said. "If they have any question about an ID, we tell them: 'Just don't sell. We hope to not catch you.'

"Unfortunately, it is happening."

Sean Park, the owner of Rocky Mountain Discount Liquors, 350 W. Riverside Dr., believes the biggest reason for the large number of violations is haste and failure to pay attention.

"They usually hit when you're busy," said Park, meaning that honest mistakes can be made fairly quickly.

Because it's so easy for well-meaning vendors to slip up while busy, Park would like to see more informational letters warning vendors to watch out for minors or some classes for additional training.

"Rather than having more sting operations, I would like to see these," Park said. "I think it would be more effective that surprising all the vendors."

When asked if he thought the violations were reflective of a large, underage drinking problem in the community, Kufeld paused for a second.

"Underage drinking is a problem here like in any other community," he said. "It happens everywhere.

"But, is it a more severe problem here, that's hard to say."

The Colorado Department of Revenue's underage drinking enforcement website, which is supposed to have data supplied by all Colorado municipalities, could not be accessed for comparisons with other communities.

The Estes Park liquor compliance checks used to be a joint effort by the town and state officials. However, in 2009, the town opted to have the state handle the compliance checks.

That changed this year when the town board elected to return to jointly conducting the checks. Estes Park Police Detective Caleb Robertson and Colorado Liquor Enforcement Division Investigator Jim Alderden conducted the checks this summer. Alderden is a former, long-time Larimer County Sheriff.

Kufeld said Alderden's office trained and supplied the operative who used their own personal ID during the checks which clearly stated the persons was "Under 21."

Of the seven violations in July, two have been resolved through stipulation agreements. Five more from the July compliance checks will come before the town board on Sept. 10.

Of the five violations in August, four are scheduled for show cause hearings before the town board on Sept. 24 unless stipulation agreements can be reached in advance.